Unwanteds High School
by WingedStoneCheetah
Summary: MODERN AU / Alex Stowe, Aaron Stowe, Samheed Burkesh, Meghan Ranger, Kaylee Jones, Lani Haluki, and Sky. Six seemingly different kids who are walking into high school for the first time High school is a scary place, especially when you're navigating through both puberty and finding an identity, and what makes it better than having friends?
1. Chapter 1

Samheed Burkesh awoke to the sound of a blaring alarm. He growled, covered his head with his pillow. His mom burst open into his room, flicking on the lights. "Up up up! First day of school!"

He groaned and hissed a few regrettable and rude words at her when she left. He had no choice but to get up and get ready for his first day of freshman year. His first day of high school, which meant a full leap from middle school. He rummaged through his closet for an outfit, pulling together a pair of jeans and red crew neck shirt. In his bag he made sure to pack his beat headphones, since he knew how much music helped him get through the day.

He went downstairs and grabbed a few granola bars from the closet before saying goodbye to his mom (his dad worked in the military, so he was almost never home). He walked out the door at a normal pace and started his way over to the bus stop.

The bus stop wasn't very far or difficult to get to, since Sam's house was close the the spot. He lived in a big neighborhood, and the bus sometimes neglected picking up kids when they didn't show up.

When he got there, he saw that his best friend, Meghan Ranger was already there. They'd been friends and neighbors since third grade. She yawned and began pulling her gorgeous red waves into a bun. "Morning."

He grunted in response. "This whole day is giving me an internal crisis."

"It hasn't even started yet," she said.

"It did," he replied with a glare directed at his neighbors boarding the bus. "When I woke up ten minutes ago.

She sighed. "Seriously, Sam? I woke up thirty minutes ago to pick out my clothes, which took ages. And then I had to do makeup and eat breakfast. I'm brutally exhausted."

"Aren't we all," he said sarcastically.

"Your a boy. You wouldn't get it."

"Yeah, you've told me," he said, causing her to laugh and roll her eyes.

Samheed started to get nervous, like, really nervous. He began rambling on and on about the list of bad things that would happen today. "...and I can't believe we only have three classes together. I'll have to talk to strangers, Meghan. I don't like socializing with weirdos."

Meghan smiled as the bus pulled up. "Perfect. This is a chance for both of us to make new friends."

"They're all weirdos!"

She sighed and got in line behind the kids boarding the bus. "You already have a few friends anyway. Maybe you'll get lucky and they will be in your class."

He snorted, thinking of his long time crush and friend. "Yeah, like Alex."

Meghan rolled her eyes. "I don't get why you don't just talk to him about your stupid crush. It's not like it'll ruin anything."

"Yes it will," Samheed said in a quieter voice. "Our friendship. And besides, my crush has faded over the years."

"Ha," she replied. "I don't know about that."

* * *

Aaron Stowe hated the bus. He hated the bus with a fiery passion. All the juniors crammed themselves in the back of the bus with the loud seniors, and he wanted to hide. He had his twin brother to sit with usually, but sometimes Alex wanted to sit alone. This was another one of those times, of course the first day of school. Stupid brother. Stupid bus. Stupid-

"Is this seat taken?"

Aaron looked up and saw a surprising sight. A girl with short, light brown hair and tan skin stood above him. She looked like a surfer girl who had just moved from California.

He shook his head and made room for her. He felt slightly bad she would have to sit with the quiet, reserved kid, since all the other seats were taken.

"I'm Kaylee Jones," she said with a smile.

"Aaron Stowe," he replied gruffly, blinking a lot in the presence of a pretty girl.

"Are you a freshman?" she asked.

"Y-yeah," he said. "I'm a freshman. What about you?"

"Freshman," Kaylee said. "I just moved here from Massachusetts, so I'm totally trying to adjust to the warm weather here."

Aaron nodded, smiling a tight lipped smile. He felt stiff and uncomfortable, but being around her somehow made him less. "You'll get used to it if you don't sweat too much."

She gave him a weird look and then grinned. "You're so strange."

His eyes widened and he clenched his jaw. "Wait what? Strange? Did I do something wrong?"

The bus jerked to a stop and door opened. He looked out the window and saw a big, white school with many large windows. Kaylee jumped up and slung her bag over her shoulder. "Oh! We're here!"

He stood up and observed her excited and slightly nervous face. "Why so happy?"

"New opportunities should never be wasted," said Kaylee. "Being positive about my first day of school is the best thing I can be."

"Never thought of it that way," grumbled Aaron. But he followed her down the line and out of the bus, and surprisingly continued to walk with her through the school.

He checked his schedule on his phone. "Ugh. I hate this. English with Mrs. McMann is first."

Kaylee checked hers. "Hey, I have English too. You can do this, Aaron, I have faith in you."

He looked at her in surprise. "How could you say that? We just met!"

She grinned. "You were generous enough to share your seat with me. Now I'm returning the favor by supporting you through English."

"Ah okay. Er, thanks," he said, but a small smile was on his face and a weird warm feeling began to enter his heart.

* * *

Samheed was not at all looking forward to math class. Math class was first period of the day, of course. God, how he hated math. He was good at it, but he still didn't like it. Or maybe he just didn't like school. Yeah, that was it.

He managed to make it to his classroom on time and found his assigned seat next to some girl named Lani Haluki. He groaned, leaning back in his seat. The teacher began blabbing on and on about "expectations." His mom already taught him shit about expectations, so this was pretty dumb.

A girl walked in late and took her seat next to Samheed. She smaller in size and quite short. She was beautiful, with tanned Hawaiian skin, blue eyes that didn't match up with her skin tone, and long black hair that reached her waist. She was easily the most beautiful girl Samheed had ever seen, and he almost forgot about his long time crush on Alex.

"Why you must be Lani," he said with a confident grin.

She blinked and stared at him. "Yeah. Um, that's me. Do I know you?"

"No but you soon will," Sam said. "I'm Samheed Burkesh."

"Okay...sure. Yeah," Lani whispered back, trying to listen to the teacher's lecture.

He studied Lani and tried to figure out a way to get her to talk to him. He cleared his throat loudly a few times.

"What do you want?" Lani hissed, turning to him. She looked generally annoyed. Sam blinked and frowned.

"I'm glad we have math class together. We can solve the equations together," he whispered with a entrapping stare. "Many equations."

She rolled her eyes and turned away again, mumbling a "please shut up"

Samheed stared at her for the rest of class, willing her to look over, but she wouldn't even do that. He was clueless on how to get this girl to like him back. The rest of the class, he tried his best to capture her attention and flirt with her, but nothing worked.

When they got out of class he tried to follow her to engage in full-on conversation, but she was walking much too quickly and left him behind.

A class period later he had class with Meghan. It was history class, and they weren't learning anything fun, so he quietly and excitedly told her all about the girl. In response she looked like she might slap him.

"Sam!" she scolded quietly, her green eyes narrowed. "Oh, I will kill you. You annoyed that poor girl to death."

"I told you-I was only trying to get her to, I don't know, fall in love with me or something."

"That's not how you get a girl to fall for you," she said. "Becoming friends with them first is the best and only option."

"Yeah okay," he said, but felt doubtful and hopeful at the same time.

This year would be a long one, and it was only the first day. Unfortunately for our other protagonists, their day wasn't going very well either.


	2. Chapter 2

The periods passed agonizingly slow for Alex Stowe. He was weary and tired from having to wake up early, but he thankfully met a lot of people today. Being a Freshman was scary and new, surrounded by older people. His favorite class was art, which he excelled it. And Meghan was in two of his classes, Biology and Math, so he hung out with her in those times. His other friend Samheed was in his Chinese class, and they both could hardly understand what the teacher was saying. The first day of school was supposed to be easy, but he still got a few packets that were due tomorrow. Not only that, but there was already a math quiz next Monday!

The bell ringing for lunch was the best part of the day. The hardest part, though, was usually finding somewhere to sit for lunch. He had a few friends but none that he could spot from the lunch line.

On his way to an empty table he ran into a girl who he had English with. Her name was Lani Haluki, he remembered.

"Oh hey, Lani," he said with a smile. "You have anywhere to sit?"

"No," she said, and squinted her eyes as she looked around the room for a seat.

"You can sit with me," he offered.

Lani nodded and slowly smiled. "Okay. Thanks."

They took their trays of food and sat at an empty table that was close to the wall. Alex shifted uncomfortably and tried his best to make Lani feel welcome. It was definitely hard to make new friends.

"So uh, how do you like your classes so far?" He inquired, smiling.

"They're fine," Lani said with a sigh. "Of course, the first day is always confusing and boring."

He nodded in agreement and started to eat his sandwich. "You could say that again."

He was happy when his twin brother, Aaron, spotted him and carried his tray of food over. Next to him was a girl he didn't recognize.

"Hi," Alex greeted. "I could hardly find a seat anywhere."

Aaron grimaced and sat down. "I know. First day of school problems."

"Who's this?" Alex asked, surprised and a bit happy that Aaron actually made a friend.

The girl took a seat next to Aaron. "Hi! I'm Kaylee Jones. I met your brother on the bus."

"I'm Alex," he said, grinning at her. He looked next to him, realizing Lani was silently eating. "Oh, and this is Lani. We have English together."

Aaron did an awkward wave and started eating his chicken sandwich. "Ugh, man, this day is so long."

"And it's only lunch," Alex agreed.

Kaylee rolled her eyes, smiling. "It's exciting. I can't believe I get to join the swim team here!

"Oh I used to take swimming, but I failed miserably at it," Alex said.

"I don't even know how to swim," Aaron confessed with an embarrassed frown.

Kaylee stared at him. "What? You don't?"

"I never tried to learn."

"That's crazy! I'm teaching you."

"N-no," he protested. "Really, that won't be necessary. I can learn someday when I have a pool."

"The school has a pool," Kaylee said. "And screw it-even if you don't want to learn you still have to. Swimming is like, really good for strengthening your core and lungs."

"So I've heard."

The four, including Lani when she finished eating, continued talking throughout lunch, about everything from middle school to TV. Kaylee liked to watch Shameless and 90210, Lani enjoyed those shows along with Doctor Who and Once Upon A Time. Alex had recently watched 13 Reasons Why, and enjoyed Arrow and American Horror Story, and Aaron watched Doctor Who, Sherlock, and The Flash.

Overall, lunch was the best part of their day.

Lani's final class couldn't have been a worse way to end the first day. She hated gym. She wasn't very fast or sporty. She enjoyed reading and writing and drawing and dancing, all things that weren't gym class. She hurried to get changed in the girls locker room, feeling out of place.

She put down her bag and quickly changed into a t shirt and soft shorts. A red headed girl approached her, setting down her bag next to Lani's. "Hi, I'm Meghan Ranger."

She was in the middle of gathering her hair into a bun, and smiled. "I'm Lani."

She was caught off guard when Meghan's eyes widened. "Oh, so you're Lani?"

"Uh, yeah," Lani said. "What..what's wrong?"

"I was just about to kill him when he said he was flirting with this girl all math class, and he said your name and I was like 'that's so rude of you!' and he said you were trying to ignore him, and wouldn't look at him but I know how annoying boys can be, and I definetly know how rude Samheed can be when he tries to get someone to like him."

Lani had started to tune her out since she was blabbing on endlessly, but got the picture.

"W-wait-Samheed? You know him?"

"Sadly yes," Meghan said with a pitying look. "We've been friends since third grade, and he lives in my neighborhood. I'm sorry about him. He's an idiot, but he's better once you get to know him."

"After he flirted endlessly with me all class? That's most likely not going to happen," Lani stated defiantly. Meghan sighed and finished putting on her gym clothes.

The girls started to walk out of the locker room together to the gym. "Well, maybe give him a chance. Who knows. You could be friends with him. He's not an awful person, just can be a bit of a hot head."

Lani grunted and made a face. "Doubtful."

When they got to the gym, the gym teacher, Ms. Florence, blowed the whistle. "Alright girls, warm up! Ten laps around the gym! Let's go!"

Lani rolled her eyes and started at a slow jog. Meghan quickly followed suit, and a third girl followed them.

"You guys liking Artime?" inquired the girl. She looked athletic, and had brown skin, long dark copper hair that was pulled into a braid, and startlingly orange eyes.

"It's okay," Lani stated. "The first day is always boring, so I don't really know."

"I love it, I've been looking forward to high school for a while!" said Meghan. "This place is huge."

"Yeah, I don't know anyone here, but it's pretty cool to meet a wide variety of people," said the girl. "I'm Sky."

"Lani," said Lani with a grin.

"Meghan," replied Meghan.

The teacher blowed the whistle again and ordered all the girls to come over. "Times up! Find a buddy and start up on this scavenger hunt! You got 40 minutes. The list of things to find is on the wall by the door. Go!"

There was a desperate scramble of kids running to claim their partners. Meghan nearly latched herself to Lani, and Lani felt better about it when Sky paired up with a small blonde girl named Scarlet.

They walked to the list. Lani scanned it for a minute. "Okay, we gotta find the goggles first, since they the pool is next to the gym."

Finding it wasn't so hard at all, and they tackled the items off the list pretty quickly. They ended up at the water fountain to look for blue stop watches. Meghan found them on the wall below it, and cheered as she checked the last item off their list.

"That was way faster than I thought it would be," she said happily.

Lani nodded, beaming. She checked the clock. "And we have twenty minutes to spare. Wanna get some candy from the cafeteria?"

"You can do that?" Meghan asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah," she replied with a laugh. "They have it at the vending machine."

"Oh," came the reply.

The two girls made their way to the vending machine, and ran into Sky and Scarlet.

"Did you finish your list?" Sky asked.

Lani showed them it. "Yep! What about you?"

"Us too," Sky grinned. "Where are you going?"

"To the vending machine," Meghan said. "We want candy."

"I could use some candy," Scarlet said.

The others nodded in agreement and decided to all go to the vending machine. They all had money with them, so Lani got a Milky Way bar, Sky got a bag of peanut M&Ms, Meghan got a cookies and cream Hershey bar, and Scarlet got Reese's.

The four walked slowly back to the gym, relishing in their wonderful meal that tasted far better than what they had for lunch. They got back to the gym in the nick of time, and soon were allowed to change and go home.

"See you guys!" Sky said, walking to her bus. Meghan waved to Lani and Scarlet as she soon too had to leave for her's. Scarlet was getting a ride home from her mom, so she said goodbye to Lani and hurried out the door.

Lani smiled, the taste of Milky Way still sitting in her mouth. Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all.


	3. Chapter 3

It was finally Friday. All the students were more than enthusiastic to kick back and relax for the weekend after the long, tiring week of school.

Sky was planning to go to the mall that night with her new friends Lani and Meghan from gym class. She was excited to get the chance to hang out with and get closer with them.

She sat at the desk in her room, busily doing homework. There was surprisingly a lot of homework that the teachers gave out. Way too much. A second after she finished her last math problem, her phone buzzed.

It was Meghan.

"Hey!" It said. "My mom offered to drive us, and Lani is already here, so what's your address? We can pick you up"

Sky smiled to herself and replied with the location of her house. Fifteen minutes later, a black van arrived in her driveway. She walked downstairs and saw Crow at the kitchen table, doing homework.

"I'm going to the mall. You wanna come?"

Crow looked up and made a face. "Do you think I do?"

She rolled her eyes. "Suit yourself."

Her mom was currently shopping for house equipment, so Sky sent her a text and walked out the door. She waved to her friends and got in, feeling excited. "Hey."

"Hey!" exclaimed Lani, looking excited.

Meghan grinned. "I've always wanted to go to the mall with other people besides my mom."

"I heard that!" Mrs. Ranger said, causing the girls to giggle.

The ride to the mall wasn't long at all. Within twenty minutes, they were already there and said goodbye to Mrs. Ranger. The girls smiled at each other and entered the mall, which was extremely crowded since it was Friday night.

"My mom can talk forever when she meets other moms," said Meghan.

Lani laughed and looked down. "So can mine."

"I think all moms are chatter boxes," said Meghan. "It's their job."

"I agree," Sky said with nod. "Less my mom. She's quieter and focuses more on work. But they're all crazy."

They stopped to look at a directory, which had a list of stores on it. Meghan put her finger on American Eagle. "This one first?"

Sky and Lani shrugged and agreed. They walked to the store and the hunt for clothes began. It was far more fun than Sky thought it would be. She showed the girls everything she was considering, which was a few shirts and a dress. She tried them all on and modeled for her friends, who also tried on a variety of clothes.

They ended up getting not as much as they thought, but Meghan got two shirts, Lani got a pair of overalls and a blue skater dress, and Sky got three shirts. They exited, laughing and talking.

"Where to next?" asked Lani.

Sky shrugged. "God, I dunno. We could go to Garage? I heard they have nice clothes."

"Yes!" Meghan exclaimed. "I love that place."

They went straight to Garage and searched as quickly as they could, showing their clothes to each other. At the end, Lani got nothing, but Sky and Meghan both got similar dresses. They went to a few more stores and each bought a few more cute clothes. At the end, Sky, Lani, and Meghan were all pretty exhausted. It was getting late and the mall would be closing in an hour.

Lani went up the escalator and the other girls followed suit. "Wanna go to Starbucks? It won't be crowded."

Meghan nodded tiredly. "Oh, this was so much fun. You guys are fun to hang out with, I'll give you that."

Sky and Lani laughed in response.

Turned out, Lani was right. Starbucks didn't even have a line. Sky entered first, recognizing instantly that the worker was their music teacher, Claire Morning.

"Hello girls," said Ms. Morning, her eyes widening and a smile on her face. It was so weird seeing her outside of school. She looked different and more tired. "Small world, huh?"

Meghan grinned. She loved Ms. Morning, since music and singing was her specialty. "Ms. Morning! You work here?"

"It's only a small part time job outside of school," Ms. Morning said, brushing her honey blonde hair out of her eyes. "I work here on the weekends at night."

"Wow," Meghan gushed. "Well, that's simply awesome! I don't know any teachers that work at Starbucks."

Ms. Morning smiled. "Mr. Simber used to work here."

Lani tried to hold her laugh back but failed miserably. "I would die to see that."

Sky cleared her throat. "Not to break this up...but can we order?"

Ms. Morning turned more serious. "Oh of course, girls! What would you like?"

"A pumpkin spice frappuccino, please?" asked Meghan.

Ms. Morning made the frappuccino quickly, and in the meantime asked Lani and Sky what they would like.

"I'll have a vanilla bean frappuccino," Sky answered with a polite smile.

"Caramel frappuccino, please," Lani spoke up.

Their music teacher made the items and even wrote their names on the cups in delicate, curvy handwriting. They exited the shop and said goodbye to Ms. Morning. The three decided they'd leave the mall since majority of the stores were closing, so Meghan called her mom. They waited outside in the nice, warm breeze.

Meghan yawned. "I have no idea what I'll do tonight. I think maybe sleep sounds good. Enjoy the time away from school."

Sky sat down on a bench. "Ugh. I have homework...still. You'd think the first week of school they wouldn't give so much homework."

"Agreed!" Lani cried. "Why do they do that? Teachers are seriously awful."

"Not Ms. Morning, though," Meghan said.

Her friends were silent.

Meghan stared at them in disbelief. "You don't like Ms. Morning?!"

Lani shook her head quickly. "No, I do! Trust me. But honestly, I don't do well with music class. It can be fun but I'd be too embarrassed to sing in front of anybody if I had to."

Sky nodded. "Exactly. Singing is not my forte."

Meghan put her hands on her hips. "That shouldn't give you a reason to dislike her. I sing all the time, and I love Ms. Morning, but not just for that."

Lani rolled her eyes and smiled. "Yeah, okay."

Meghan's mom came to pick them up, and Meghan climbed in the front while the other two piled into the backseat. She started playing with the stations and landed on a particularly catchy song. Mrs. Ranger turned up the music as Meghan, followed by Lani and Sky, burst into song.

They sung the whole way home, and Sky realized that despite her ability to sing awfully, it was more than fun to sing along with friends and music.


	4. Chapter 4

Aaron was so done with school, and it had barely started. Every bus ride was boring, except for the fact that he sat with his new friend Kaylee. Yes, _friend!_ His entire family was surprised at his accomplishment.

As soon as he got off the bus he ran inside, Alex following behind him. It was Friday night, so he really didn't plan on doing anything that exciting. He grabbed a bag of chips from the kitchen and started up the stairs to his room.

"Aaron?" his twin brother said from behind him. Aaron stopped and slowly turned around.

"What?"

"I get that Mom's not home yet, but you know we can't bring food into our room."

Aaron stared, flabbergasted. "You bring up food all the time!"

"I bring up soda and water, not things that attract bugs," Alex said with an eye roll. He followed him up the stairs. "Anyways I see you're hanging out with Kaylee a lot."

"She's my friend," Aaron mumbled. "And Isn't that what friends do?"

Alex nodded and grinned. "Yeah it is. I never see you with friends though, and I want you to make as many as you can since this is a fresh start."

"A fresh start?" Aaron tilted his head.

"Yeah. High school is a fresh start for anyone. Once you get out of middle school, you can be whoever you want to be," said Alex, walking past his brother up into his room.

He nodded, blinking. "Yes...I guess so..."

He situated himself in his room, going straight to his computer and starting on his homework. Suddenly he received a text. He glanced down at his phone, confused who it was. He read over the test, shaking his head.

"Hey it's Kaylee from school! Turns out I grabbed your English notebook by accident. Is it cool if I drop it off at your house? Idk what your address is, so text me it if your cool with me coming over!"

Aaron blinked. He'd completely forgotten about his important English notes that he'd need for his assignment. He completely forgot he gave Kaylee his number but was grateful he had. He texted her his address, and she arrived ten minutes later.

The doorbell rang. Aaron grunted and walked downstairs but saw that Alex had already opened the door and was talking to Kaylee.

"Hey, Kaylee," Aaron muttered, trying to smile. He needed to work on those.

"Hi Aaron!" Kaylee said, smiling. He liked how she'd put her hair up in a ponytail, and he liked the anchor necklace she was wearing, although he didn't know why. "I'm sorry, I would've given your folder to you on the bus if I knew."

"That's okay," Aaron said, noticing Alex was watching him closely. "I might've-er-for-yeah-forgotten too."

Alex, who was still standing there, rolled his eyes and muttered, "Dork."

He felt his face burning and tried not to blush. Kaylee hadn't seemed to mind. "Oh, here's your folder by the way."

She took the folder out of her left hand and handed it to him. Their hands brushed, shooting electricity and warmth all throughout Aaron's body. He nearly jumped and wanted to grab her hand to feel the electricity.

"Thanks," he said quietly, staring hard at her suddenly beautiful hand.

She waved and backed off the steps into the path that led to his driveway. "Okay, well, I'll see you Monday!"

"Right," Aaron said, watching her climb on her bike and pedal out of view.

Alex starting laughing loudly. Aaron jumped and glared at his brother. He forgot he was there.

"You like her," Alex said, grinning from ear to ear.

"I do not," Aaron replied, crossing his arms and scrunching his nose. "I've only known her for a week."

"Sure, but you still think she's cute."

"S-shut up Alex," he snapped, shooting daggers at him. He stomped all the way up the stairs, making a huge scene of going to his room. "I'm going to my room."

"Okay," Alex said, looking amused. "But you still like her!"

Aaron didn't answer and slammed his door. He ran a hand through his short hair and sat down on his small bed, looking at his shaking hands. What did this mean? He liked her? His heart was pounding, every movement felt uneasy, and he thought a lot about his words before he said them. But did that mean he liked her? While Alex had liked many girls, he'd never liked a girl romantically before. Or a guy, for that matter. Then again, he'd never had real friends before, so maybe this was a friendly feeling that friends feel. But why did Kaylee make his words hard to say...and he had trouble meeting her eyes? Why did the touch of her hand simply sent him into an electric shock?

He sighed heavily and collapsed on his bed, quietly thinking all of these things. "C'mon. Get a grip, Stowe."

* * *

The next morning, Saturday, was a relief for Meghan. She was having a quiet morning. She woke up early, sat on her bed and did the small amount of homework she had. By ten o'clock, she was finished and stressed out. But hey, at least she finished her homework!

Stretching, she climbed off her bed and went downstairs. In the kitchen, her mom made breakfast while her dad read a book on the coach. She felt a twinge of sadness. Her parents cared for her, but ever since Sean left for college they had always been distant and sad. Their favorite child was obviously Sean, not Meghan, and that hurt her.

"Thanks for the pancakes, Mom," Meghan said gratefully, taking a plate of three delicious-looking blueberry pancakes.

"Sure," her mom replied. "It's been a while since I made you breakfast. Any plans for today?"

Meghan shrugged. "I don't know. The mall was fun last night, and I finished my homework, so maybe I'll spend a day relaxing."

She plopped down on the coach with her plate and switched on the TV. _Random morning cartoons, here I come,_ she thought to herself.

However after ten minutes of watching, her phone buzzed almost ten times. She sighed, picking up her phone and glancing at her text. A dozen new text messages from Samheed. She opened her phone and read through them.

"Meghan" the first one said, followed by "MEGHAN", after that a "HELP", and a "COME QUICK", next a "I NEED YOU IMMEDIATELY." Blinking, Meghan texted him back and hopped off her coach. Her relaxing Saturday morning would have to be saved for later.

Within a minute, Meghan walked across the street and straight up to his front door. Without knocking she walked straight in and shut the door behind her. "Sam?"

Samheed rushed down the stairs, his face one of nervousness. "I don't know how it happened! I went to go check outside because my dog started barking, and I went to quiet him down. When I was walking outside I saw the garage was opened and it was missing. Oh, god! My parents will KILL me!"

"Whoa whoa whoa..." Meghan said, processing what was going on. "What's missing?"

"My dad's 3-D printer for guns!"

Her eyes widened. "He has one of those? Are you sure it's not in there?

He was frantic, pacing back and forth and hands constantly tugging at his hair. "Yeah. And yeah, I'm sure."

Meghan swallowed, looking at him directly and placing a hand on his shoulder. She tried not to feel the panic he was feeling. Someone had stolen a 3-D printer for guns...and could easily make a thousand, maybe spread terrorism and shootings across every town. "It's alright, we'll get it back."

He stopped pacing. "I don't know where to start. My dad is well, in the army and won't be back for a few months. My mom is on a trip with her friends for the next week."

"You said it was in the garage? Why don't we look for clues?"

"Why don't we?" Samheed said, in a slightly snappy tone. He rushed over to the garage and opened the door.

She followed him, channeling her inner detective. The garage was a clutter of...things. Boxes, military supplies, knives, gadgets, and papers lay strewn on the floor and pushed into big piles. She sighed. "This is a mess."

He shot her a look. "This is my dad's, and he might be unorganized but he's a military genius."

"Sure."

Samheed went over to one side of the garage, throwing papers over his shoulder as he sorted through the clutter. Meghan searched another pile, looking at every inscription of writing. A lot of it was hard to read; some of it was in another language. They'd been searching everything they saw for a good two hours.

Finally, Samheed shouted, "I think I found something!"

Meghan rushed over to him. He was holding a letter written about the location and business of a 3-D printer. The letter was crumbled up and obviously was meant to be in the trash. On the back side of the letter, the name was scribbled out but the address of the writer wasn't.

They shared a grin, and Meghan picked up a slip of paper she saw lying underneath his feet. On the paper was a small printed receipt from the local grocery store. Listed on the receipt were the items that were bought, the date, and the cashier. The date was yesterday, so that meant the cashier who had seen the thief would have information.

She showed Samheed. He let out a whoop. His face was determined and excited. "Eh Meg, we're pretty good at this detective thing."

"Who said we weren't?" Meghan said with a light laugh. She was excited, maybe nervous, to catch this thief. But they couldn't do it alone. If she could get Lani, Alex, and Sky together with them, her three other great friends, they would be totally unstoppable!


End file.
